Wesley Hilliard
Twitter is offering its Twitter Blue subscribers a new perk in a considerably increased 4,000-character limit — with some caveats.
Just a day before Twitter's free API goes away, the company hopes to generate some good PR and goodwill with a new feature rollout — 4,000 character limits. Subscribers to Twitter Blue will be able to post 4,000 character posts, up from 280 one the feature rolls out in full.
Non-subscribers can still see the 4,000-character posts, and everyone will see the first 280 characters of a tweet truncated in their timeline. A "Show more" button will appear to guide users to the full post.
The new character limit will prove to be a double-edged sword. Twitter Blue users will finally be able to post much more content in a single post rather than relying on threads, but threads generate more interaction and, soon, ad revenue.
Twitter recently also announced that influencers would be able to benefit from getting revenue from ads shown in reply threads to their tweets. Posting a 4,000-character tweet instead of 15 separate tweets in a thread cuts the possibility of a tweet going viral and having an ad generate revenue in replies.
need more than 280 characters to express yourself?
— Twitter Blue (@TwitterBlue) February 8, 2023
we know that lots of you do and while we love a good thread, sometimes you just want to Tweet everything all at once. we get that.
so we're introducing longer Tweets! you're gonna want to check this out. tap this https://t.co/lge9udRzLE
Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk previously stated that much of the company's decision-making will be done on the fly. Meaning that features will roll out and be removed at a moment's notice as the company finds what works best for monetizing the platform.
It appears that the 4,000-character limit is a result of the never-released Twitter Write feature.
A Twitter Blue subscription is $8 per month or $11 per month when subscribed via the iOS app. Features of the service include improved visibility of posts, half the number of ads, and longer video posts.
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13 Comments
Oh boy, a bigger Landfill doesn’t make for better garbage….
I’ll go on record admitting I consider Elon near hero-status for taking over Twitter and exposing the corruption.
That said, I don’t agree with several of his decisions regarding Twitter as a business. He didn’t buy it *just* to be altruistic, and fear for what it might become. What he/they did to Twitter 3rd party apps was really uncalled for. That’s the kind of thing you do with advanced notice.
I do support this character expansion limit, but primarily to make threads unnecessary. Sometimes you just want (or more, need to) post a few paragraphs or include some information, and having to break it up across a dozen tweets doesn’t benefit anyone, IMO.
What I don’t get (if I’m understanding correctly), is the showing the summary with ‘more’ button for non-Twitter-Blue, but for Blue, will it just display the whole thing? I think it would be better to have the more for everyone, as having some huge ‘tweets’ is going to make using Twitter harder, I’d think.
Garbage is everywhere. If you don’t know how to sift through it, you’re in trouble. But, sometimes more data is necessary, especially to make or rebut a point. It is a welcome addition, I’m just not sure of the implementation. Like it or not, Twitter is where it is at for a lot of information flow. I don’t think that is going to change.
What was wrong with threads?
Oh that's right threads allow for sensible debate as each point needs its own tweet and therefore counter points can address directly.
The new wall of text allows any sensible counter to be sunk below a sea of noise.
Soon you will be able to publish a whole PhD dissertation on Twitter.